Pastor's PenMay 2016by Pastor Alan Darby

Dear Friends,

Just as Jesus was about to ascend to Heaven after His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples, “You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witness…” This command was true and relevant for His followers in the first century up through now in the 21st century. Unfortunately, many of His disciples today are not comfortable and confident in their capability to personally share their faith with others. For this reason, I am about to begin a new series of sermons on how to be effective in evangelism, and witness as individuals, and as a congregation. During the Sunday mornings in May, I hope to be following this theme of “Models, Methods, and Essential Elements for being Effective Ambassadors of Christ.” God has blessed believers with a wonderful opportunity to have a vital relationship with Him and has given us the privileged calling to lead others into the same, by God’s grace.

As an application of this sermon series, I hope to offer a six- week course on sharing your faith on Sunday evenings during the Summer, entitled “Becoming a Contagious Christian: Communicating Your Faith in a Style That Fits You.” I have found this study to be wonderfully helpful to me and many others. It will help us to become more comfortable, confident, and capable in leading others to Christ. The genius of this approach is in discovering that, not only has God uniquely designed each of us to serve Him through individual spiritual gifts and personalities, but He has also personally and uniquely shaped us to share Him with others. This can be really quite freeing in our witness. We will be bringing you more details as we launch this study. I hope you will join me in praying and considering how we all might become more “contagious” as we share our love and faith in Jesus with others.